Ponder drilling site too close for residents’ comfort

A sound barrier surrounds a pad site in Ponder a few hundred feet away from a home on Friday. Residents in Ponder’s Remington Park neighborhood are expressing anger and frustration that the town’s ordinances permit drilling so close to homes.

PONDER - Residents in Remington Park believed that when they
bought into the town's newest subdivision five years ago, there
would be a park behind them. Instead, Devon Energy will drill for
gas.

Irene Sandell was one of more than 40 residents who filled the
council chambers and the hallway at Town Hall on Thursday to
protest a new pad site beside the neighborhood. She moved to Ponder
from Justin to get away from drilling's encroachment on homes.

"The park would have increased my property values," Sandell
said.

Now the backyard of home on Hawthorne Court is blocked by a wall
the energy company erected to reduce the impact of noise and lights
on the neighborhood, she said.

"A gas well near my home in Justin was struck by lightning and
the explosion shook my home," Sandell said. "What kinds of
assurances do we have that lightning won't strike this well and
ruin my home?"

She acknowledged that event was unlikely, but added, "I'm
screwed either way."

Many residents called the town's ordinance weak. Some were upset
that it allows the mayor to approve drilling permits without a
public notice or a public hearing. Others were surprised that
drilling could occur so close to homes. Devon representative
Gilbert Horton said it was 400 feet from the wellhead to the
nearest house.

Residents were also upset that a formal complaint written by
Veronica Kronvall for the neighborhood, which is home to about 300
of the town's 1,395 residents, hadn't been acknowledged.

Resident Melissa Holt told the council that the residents
expected the council to respond to their concerns.

"We complain and the city doesn't respond," Holt said, adding
that instead, company representatives came out to talk to
residents. "They were arrogant, sarcastic and condescending. We
elected the city officials to represent the city, not Devon Energy.
As of this date, there has been no response to Veronica's letter.
We deserve better."

Holt called for a dialogue between town officials, the energy
company and the neighborhood.

Horton told the council that Devon Energy and its
representatives were ready to meet not only with the council, but
with residents, to address their concerns.

He expected drilling to begin this week.

Several council members pledged to meet with residents this
weekend.

"No one on the council knew," council member Alan Gorman told
the crowd. "This was the first time we were aware of this,
too."

In an interview Friday, Kronvall said she called the property
owner and his attorney to ask about the arrangement, since the
drill site is on a large tract of land and already has a pad site
farther from the neighborhood. The property owner told her they had
repeatedly asked for such a meeting with the town and the
neighborhood prior to drilling, but nothing ever came of it.

At the end of the council meeting, Town Secretary Sheri Clearman
asked council members for their feedback on a letter the town would
send to residents.

She said that Ponder has seven or eight well sites inside town
limits, but most residents don't realize it because the drilling
and hydraulic fracturing processes happened a long time ago, and
the pad sites are on the edge of town.

Town Engineer Michael Anderson called the current ordinance out
of date, and "not very good." He pointed to one clause in
particular and suggested the ordinance may have been written for
the town by industry representatives because the ordinance limits
the town's capability to hire technical consultants.

The Town Council agreed to put a review of its drilling
ordinances on the next regular agenda.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do about the current
situation," Gorman said. "But we can make sure it never happens
this way again."

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail
address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .

Comments

DentonRC.com is now using Facebook Comments. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then add your comment below. Your comment is subject to Facebook's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service on data use. If you don't want your comment to appear on Facebook, uncheck the 'Post to Facebook' box. To find out more, read the FAQ .